We read in our parsha of the wondrous vision, in which Hashem ‘appeared’ to Yaakov Avinu, and promised him that He would be with him in the journey he was about to undertake. And in this vision, (28:12-17) we read that Yaakov ‘dreamt:
And behold! A ladder was set earthward and its top reached heavenward; and behold! Angels of G-d were ascending and descending on it; And behold! Hashem was standing over him..;Yaakov awoke from his sleep and said:’Surely Hashem is present in this place, and I did not know!; And he became frightened and said:’How awesome is this place!This is none other than the abode of G-d, and this is the gate of the heavens!’.
The Sforno comments:’This is the abode of G-d’: the place of the Beit Hamikdash; and ‘the gate of the heavens’:The ladder is the means whereby our prayers ascend, and ‘are heard’, by Hashem who is ‘standing’ at the top of the ladder.
Adds the Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh: Yaakov Avimu divined that it was ‘the gate of the heavens’, from the vision of the angels ascending and descending.
The present Slonimer Rebbe, the Darchei Noam, however, offers a different interpretation of this vision, and of Yaakov Avinu’s comment:’Hashem is present in this place..and I did not know!’.
Yaako Avinu had spent all his years till this moment ‘as a dweller of tents’: the tents of Torah, in the Torah ‘academies’ of Shem and Ever.
Now, he is setting out for the first time, into the ‘outside’ world, to seek out his wife, and tend to earning a livelihood , and all the travails of ‘earthly’ life; and, all of this in the house of the deceitful Laban.
And, Yaakov Avinu was in great dread of this new ‘life’; how would he be able to continue in the path of righteousness, and remain connected to Hashem, in this ‘ungodly’ world!
To reassure him, Hashem appeared to him in this vision, and promised to be with him, and to ensure his ‘safe return’- not just physically, but, more important to Yaakov Avinu, שלם: spiritually ‘whole’.
On waking up from this vision, Yaakov exclaimed: ‘G-d is in this place’, in the ‘outside’ world, ‘and I did not know this!’; and, therefore, ‘how awesome is this place’, because Hashem is ‘here’ too, not just, as I had thought, in the halls of Torah study.
The previous Slonimer Rebbe, the Netivot Shalom, adds ‘sweetness’ to this ‘truth’, stating:’The whole of this ‘outside’ world is the gateway to Heaven, because in all our earthly endeavors, when we conduct ourselves in accordance with Hashem’s Will, we can ‘ascend’ towards Hashem, so that this world is truly ‘the gateway to Heaven’.
A parting thought:May all that we do, both in the halls of Torah and our Avodat Hashem, AND in our mundane, daily activities, always accord with the ‘awesomeness’ of this place, the gateway to Heaven!
לרפואת נחום אלימלך רפאל בן זהבה רבקה, בתוך שאר חולי עמנו.